DownWithTyranny!

"When fascism comes to America, it will be wrapped in the flag and carrying the cross."
-- Sinclair Lewis

Thursday, October 30, 2003

[10/30/2011] Let's take care not to underappreciate Scott Joplin (continued)

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"Pine Apple Rag" from the Sting soundtrack album

AS PROMISED, WE'VE BEGUN WITH SOME OF THEUSE THAT THE STING MAKES OF "PINE APPLE RAG"

I assume the above clip is from the soundtrack album. What I would really like to have offered is this clip from the film, for which embedding is unfortunately disabled. It's a dazzling dialogueless sequence in which Henry Gondorf (Paul Newman) begins pulling his sting together. He starts by having young grifter Johnny Hooker (Robert Redford) get a proper haircut over a Hamlisch piano-solo performance of "Pine Apple Rag." Then the music switches to Hamlisch's ensemble version.

THE STING's JOPLIN "BIG THREE" (PLUS:INTRODUCING DICK HYMAN'S JOPLIN)

The film's Joplin trinity is made up of two rags, "The Entertainer" and "Pine Apple Rag," and the lovely, more discursive "Solace -- A Mexican Serenade." We already heard "The Entertainer" Friday night, but I thought this would be a good opportunity not only to hear it again but to introduce the important five-LP set, Scott Joplin: The Complete Works for Solo Piano, recorded in 1975 by musical polymath Dick Hyman (born 1927) -- composer, arranger, and pianist in a wide range of musical genres. According to the entertaining and informative booklet notes by ragtime expert Rudi Blesh, co-author with Harriet Janis of They All Played Ragtime, the Hyman recordings were made over a nine-month period, and the care shows; I find that the performances, which aren't necessarily my favorite kind but represent really well considered statements, hold up quite well. Alas, I don't see any trace of them on CD except a single RCA Gold Seal CD. We're going to hear Dick's performances of all our selections, and also read some of Rudi Blesh's necessarily brief (given the quantity of material he had to cover) album notes on the individual pieces.

Here, for starters, is Dick Hyman's attractive, stylish "Entertainer." (The photo is from around 2005. Here, by the way, is Dick's official website.)

The first two themes are lively, lyric, and innocent, with upward-sweeping figures like dance steps. With the trio the music plunges into an American red-light bacchanal -- darkly "barrelhouse" and stomping over a continuous contrapuntal bass. In the final theme the mood moves into ringing triumph and ends with two strong, heavy chords. -- Rudi Blesh

NEXT, "THE BRILLIANT AND 'INTOXICATING' RAG THATTHAT CHANGED THE COURSE OF AMERICAN MUSIC"

I mentioned Friday night that Joshua Rifkin's 1970 Nonesuch Joplin LP seems to me the landmark in the Joplin revival, and I still love the performances. Many listeners complain about the slow or slowish tempos, but Rifkin seems to me to be hearing in the music an ambition to do for ragtime what great European composers like Liszt and Chopin did for European dance forms: to elevate them into a resonant-across-time art form. This wasn't just a matter of tempo, though. Rifkin (who was only 26 at the time he recorded that first Nonesuch Joplin LP, and has gone on to a noteworthy career as musicologist and conductor -- the photo is from around 2008) clearly placed a lot of value on the sheer sound of the music, which resonates in a way I've never heard from any other pianist in this music. Note in particular the sweet, beautifully ringing sound he coaxes in the keyboard's upper reaches, an often startling contrast to the honky-tonkish sound usually produced by more pop-oriented players. (We should probably note that the recordings were all made in Rutgers Presbyterian Church, on West 73rd Street in Manhattan.)

Eventually there were three Rifkin Nonesuch Joplin LPs, with eight selections each. It wasn't a vast quantity of music per side, but at Nonesuch's budget price no one complained, and it was a great format for appreciating the individual pieces. For better and worse, Nonesuch has boiled the original 24 selections down to a single CD containing 17: all 8 from Volume I (recorded in September 1970), 5 from Volume II (recorded in January 1972), and 4 from Volume III (recorded in September 1974). Rather remarkably, that CD appears to have been in the catalog continuously since 1990, a tribute to the performances' durability. (I've never heard Rifkin's later recording of nine Joplin rags for EMI, filled out with instrumental-ensemble versions of six more rags played by the Southland Stingers, but I've ordered a copy.)

For this great piece, I think we've got an especially interesting range of performances. (Dick Hyman is in a very frisky frame of mind!)

SCOTT JOPLIN: "Maple Leaf Rag" (1899)

This is the brilliant and "intoxicating" rag that changed the course of American music. Despite all imitations -- and there were many -- it was, and remains, unique. Its themes, its harmonies, with their superb cadences at the theme endings, and its seemingly unfadeable freshness and élan -- all of these, somehow, have kept it current in the more than 75 [now 112!] years since its publication. Mr. Hyman realizes all of these attributes in a striking performance. -- Rudi Blesh

Unique as the only tango in Joplin's work (although there are tango episodes in certain rags). Solace is like a tribute to Lottie Stokes, whom he had just married. It is indescribably romantic and intimate. Few pieces of piano music can match its particular mood of slow, deep, inward passion. Hearing it and thinking of Lottie, one realizes that she was solace to him and more -- certainly, inspiration. The years 1908-10 are studded with Joplin rags -- Sugar Cane, Wall Street, and others -- all of a similar quiet, intimate amorousness.-- Rudi Blesh

The rhythmic device of syncopation is crucial to ragtime, and I'm finding it easier to point to than to describe, so let's give Wikipedia a shot:

In music, syncopation includes a variety of rhythms which are in some way unexpected in that they deviate from the strict succession of regularly spaced strong and weak but also powerful beats in a meter (pulse). These include a stress on a normally unstressed beat or a rest where one would normally be stressed. "If a part of the measure that is usually unstressed is accented, the rhythm is considered to be syncopated."

More simply, syncopation is a general term for a disturbance or interruption of the regular flow of rhythm; a placement of rhythmic stresses or accents where they wouldn't normally occur.

As long as we're talking about syncopation, here's --

SCOTT JOPLIN: "Elite Syncopations" (1902)

The cover of this rag depicts flirtation in the Gibson Girl era. He and She are sitting at a not unbridgeable distance apart on the musical staff as though it were a fence. The musical expression indication is dolce (as in "La Dolce Vita"), and the flirtation goes on with Cupid, below, beating the cymbals. Inside, in the music, the dialogue continues: first theme is He in bold, assertive accents; two is She answering more softly but no less surely. He comes back and then She in the trio, and the final theme is of triumphant union. -- Rudi Blesh

Thursday, October 23, 2003

[10/23/2011] Continuing our look at "Tannhäuser" from the vantage point of Wolfram von Eschenbach (continued)

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FIRST LET'S REVIEW THE MUSICO-SCENIC TRANSFORMATIONIN MUSIC FROM THE VENUSBERG TO OUR THURINGIAN VALLEY

When I began preparing audio files to present this astounding musical transformation, I didn't know how much of it I was going to cover in the preview installment, drawn from still other recordings. All of it, it turned out -- and even a little bit more; for the preview I included the first part of the Pilgrims' Chorus. Oh well! Personally, I can never get enough of this transformative moment, and there's quite a lot of difference among these performances (not counting not-quite-identical starting and stopping points, partly owing to a slight difference here between the Dresden and Paris versions of the Tannhäuser-Venus scene). One thing we've got plenty of today is big-name and big-result Shepherds.

TANNHÄUSER: Goddess of bliss and delight, no!Ah, not in you shall I find peace and rest!My salvation lies in Mary!

TANNHÄUSER, who has not left his position, suddenly finds himself transported to a beautiful valley. Blue sky, bright sunshine. To the right, in the background, the Wartburg. Through an opening in the valley on the left can be seen the Hörselberg. To the right, from halfway up the valley a mountain path leads from the direction of the Wartburg toward the foreground, where it then diverges to the side. In the same foreground is a shrine to the Virgin Mary, led up to by a slight rocky ledge. From the heights on the left is heard the sound of sheep bells. On a high rock sits a young shepherd with his pipe, looking toward the valley.

THE SHEPHERD: Dame Holda came forth from the mountainto roam through field and meadow;my ear caught a sound there so sweet,my eye longed to behold.[He plays.]There I dreamt many a sweet dream,and my eyes had scarcely opened whenthere the sun shone warm.May, May had come!Now I gaily play my pipe.May is here, the lovely May!

LANDGRAF [catches sight of TANNHÄUSER]:Who is that man yonder, sunk in fervent prayer?WALTHER VON DER VOGELWEIDE: A penitent surely.BITEROLF: By his garb a knight.WOLFRAM [rushes up to TANNHÄUSER and recognizes him]: It is he!WALTHER, HEINRICH DER SCHREIBER, BITEROLF, and REINMAR: Heinrich! Heinrich! Do I see right?[TANNHÄUSER, who, surprised, has gotten up quickly, pulls himself together and bows to the LANDGRAF, after he has glanced briefly at him and the Singers.]LANDGRAF: Is it really you? Have you returned to the circle youforsook in haughty arrogance?BITEROLF: Say, what does your return signify for us?LANDGRAF and SINGERS: Tell us what! BITEROLF: Reconciliation? Or does it betoken renewed strife?WALTHER: Do you approach us as friend or foe?SINGERS except WOLFRAM: As foe?

Now Wagner delivers a quintessential Wolframian moment, as he responds to the suggestion that Tannhäuser could have returned as a foe. I thought of stringing together five or ten performances of this tiny bit, but finally settled for these two, run consecutively in the same clip.

The other Singers promptly fall in line, and Wolfram's "Gegrüsst sei uns" expands into a wonderful ensemble of entreaty for Tannhäuser to stay, but he resists. Let's back up to the top and carry the scene forward up to the next great Wolframian moment.

LANDGRAF [catches sight of TANNHÄUSER]:Who is that man yonder, sunk in fervent prayer?WALTHER VON DER VOGELWEIDE: A penitent surely.BITEROLF: By his garb a knight.WOLFRAM [rushes up to TANNHÄUSER and recognizes him]: It is he!WALTHER, HEINRICH DER SCHREIBER, BITEROLF, and REINMAR: Heinrich! Heinrich! Do I see right?[TANNHÄUSER, who, surprised, has gotten up quickly, pulls himself together and bows to the LANDGRAF, after he has glanced briefly at him and the Singers.]LANDGRAF: Is it really you? Have you returned to the circle youforsook in haughty arrogance?BITEROLF: Say, what does your return signify for us?LANDGRAF and SINGERS: Tell us what! BITEROLF: Reconciliation? Or does it betoken renewed strife?WALTHER: Do you approach us as friend or foe?SINGERS except WOLFRAM: As foe?WOLFRAM: Oh, do not ask! Is this the bearing of arrogance?[to TANNHÄUSER] Be welcome, you valiant Singer,who have been, oh, so long absent from our midst!WALTHER: Welcome, if you come in peace!BITEROLF: Welcome, if you call us friends!Welcome! Welcome! We greet you!THE OTHER SINGERS except WOLFRAM: Welcome! Welcome! We greet you!LANDGRAF: Be welcome then to me as well!Tell us -- where have you tarried so long?TANNHÄUSER: I have journeyed in far distant realms --there where I never found repose nor rest.Do not ask! I did not come hither to contend with you.Be reconciled with me and let me go on further!LANDGRAF: Not so! You have become one of us once more.WALTHER: You may not go away.BITEROLF: We will not let you go.LANDGRAF and SINGERS except BITEROLF: Stay with us!TANNHÄUSER: Let me be! Delay avails me naught,and never can I stop to rest!My way bids me only hasten onward,and never may I cast a backward glance!LANDGRAF and SINGERS: Oh, stay! You shall tarry with us,we will not let you go from us!you have sought us out, why hurry awayafter so short a reunion?TANNHÄUSER [tearing himself away]: Away, away from here!SINGERS: Stay, stay with us!

The mention of Elisabeth's name brings forth a potential moment of magic from Tannhäuser as well. We're going to hear that now, and continue on as Wolfram asks the Landgraf's permission to share some sensitive personal information. For the sake of the chance to sample the literally matchless Tannhäuser of Lauritz Melchior, we're going to hear Herbert Janssen as Wolfram again, but 12 years later, vocally much changed -- now pushing his once-honeyed lyric baritone into the Heldenbariton repertory. (In the latter performance, I apologize for the final syllable of Alexander Kipnis's last line being cut off. The CD track point occurs here, and I wasn't going to tack on a single-note track.)

WOLFRAM [stepping in TANNHÄUSER's path, with raised voice]: Stay with Elisabeth!TANNHÄUSER: Elisabeth! O heavenly powers,do you cry out that sweet name to me?WOLFRAM: You shall not rebuke me as enemy, for that I havespoken it![to the LANDGRAF] Do you permit me, sir, to beherald of his good fortune to him?LANDGRAF: Tell him of the spell he has wrought,and God grant him virtue,that he may undo it aright.

THIS BRINGS US TO THE POINT WHEN WOLFRAMSINGS "ALS DU IN KÜHNEM SANGE" . . .

. . . of which we've already heard two pretty special stand-alone performances, before the click-through. Now let's hear it in context, backtracking to Wolfram's "Bleib' bei Elisabeth" and then continuing on to the point where Tannhäuser not only agrees to stay but asks to be led to Elisabeth.

WOLFRAM [stepping in TANNHÄUSER's path, with raised voice]: Stay with Elisabeth!TANNHÄUSER: Elisabeth! O heavenly powers,do you cry out that sweet name to me?WOLFRAM: You shall not rebuke me as enemy, for that I havespoken it![to the LANDGRAF] Do you permit me, sir, to beherald of his good fortune to him?LANDGRAF: Tell him of the spell he has wrought,and God grant him virtue,that he may undo it aright.WOLFRAM: When you strove with us in blithe song,sometimes victorious against our lays,anon defeated through our art,one prze there was that you alone succeeded in winning.Was it by magic or by pure mightthat you achieved the miracleor captivating the most virtuous of maidsby your singing filled with joy and sorrow?For when, in haughtiness, you left us,her heart closed to our song;we saw her cheeks grow pale,she ever shunned our circle.Oh, return, you valiant Singer,let not your song be far from ours.Let her no longer be absent from our festivals,let her star shine on us once more!SINGERS except WOLFRAM: Be one of us, Heinrich, return to us!Have done with dissension and strife!Let our lays ring out in unison,and brothers let us call ourselves from henceforth.WOLFRAM: Oh, return, you valiant Singer!Oh, return!Let our lays ring out in unison,and brothers let us call ourselves from henceforth.LANDGRAF: Oh, return, you valiant Singer!Have done with dissension and strife!TANNHÄUSER [deeply moved, embraces WOLFRAM and warmly]: To her! To her! Oh, lead me to her!Ha, how I recognize it again,the lovely world that I renounced!The heavens look down upon me,the meadows sparkle, richly decked!The spring, the springwith a thousand lovely soundshas entered into my soul, rejoicing!In sweet impetuous urgencymy heart cries aloud:To her, to her!Lead me to her!

FINALLY, HERE'S THE WHOLE OF ACT I, SCENE 4, PICKINGUP FROM THE HORN CALLS HERALDING THE LANDGRAF'S PARTY

Tannhäuser, Act I, Scene 4, Landgraf, "Wer ist der dort?"

LANDGRAF [catches sight of TANNHÄUSER]:Who is that man yonder, sunk in fervent prayer?WALTHER VON DER VOGELWEIDE: A penitent surely.BITEROLF: By his garb a knight.WOLFRAM [rushes up to TANNHÄUSER and recognizes him]: It is he!WALTHER, HEINRICH DER SCHREIBER, BITEROLF, and REINMAR: Heinrich! Heinrich! Do I see right?[TANNHÄUSER, who, surprised, has gotten up quickly, pulls himself together and bows to the LANDGRAF, after he has glanced briefly at him and the Singers.]LANDGRAF: Is it really you? Have you returned to the circle youforsook in haughty arrogance?BITEROLF: Say, what does your return signify for us?LANDGRAF and SINGERS: Tell us what! BITEROLF: Reconciliation? Or does it betoken renewed strife?WALTHER: Do you approach us as friend or foe?SINGERS except WOLFRAM: As foe?WOLFRAM: Oh, do not ask! Is this the bearing of arrogance?[to TANNHÄUSER] Be welcome, you valiant Singer,who have been, oh, so long absent from our midst!WALTHER: Welcome, if you come in peace!BITEROLF: Welcome, if you call us friends!Welcome! Welcome! We greet you!THE OTHER SINGERS except WOLFRAM: Welcome! Welcome! We greet you!LANDGRAF: Be welcome then to me as well!Tell us -- where have you tarried so long?TANNHÄUSER: I have journeyed in far distant realms --there where I never found repose nor rest.Do not ask! I did not come hither to contend with you.Be reconciled with me and let me go on further!LANDGRAF: Not so! You have become one of us once more.WALTHER: You may not go away.BITEROLF: We will not let you go.LANDGRAF and SINGERS except BITEROLF: Stay with us!TANNHÄUSER: Let me be! Delay avails me naught,and never can I stop to rest!My way bids me only hasten onward,and never may I cast a backward glance!LANDGRAF and SINGERS: Oh, stay! You shall tarry with us,we will not let you go from us!you have sought us out, why hurry awayafter so short a reunion?TANNHÄUSER [tearing himself away]: Away, away from here!SINGERS: Stay, stay with us!WOLFRAM [stepping in TANNHÄUSER's path, with raised voice]: Stay with Elisabeth!TANNHÄUSER: Elisabeth! O heavenly powers,do you cry out that sweet name to me?WOLFRAM: You shall not rebuke me as enemy, for that I havespoken it![to the LANDGRAF] Do you permit me, sir, to beherald of his good fortune to him?LANDGRAF: Tell him of the spell he has wrought,and God grant him virtue,that he may undo it aright.WOLFRAM: When you strove with us in blithe song,sometimes victorious against our lays,anon defeated through our art,one prze there was that you alone succeeded in winning.Was it by magic or by pure mightthat you achieved the miracleor captivating the most virtuous of maidsby your singing filled with joy and sorrow?For when, in haughtiness, you left us,her heart closed to our song;we saw her cheeks grow pale,she ever shunned our circle.Oh, return, you valiant Singer,let not your song be far from ours.Let her no longer be absent from our festivals,let her star shine on us once more!SINGERS except WOLFRAM: Be one of us, Heinrich, return to us!Have done with dissension and strife!Let our lays ring out in unison,and brothers let us call ourselves from henceforth.WOLFRAM: Oh, return, you valiant Singer!Oh, return!Let our lays ring out in unison,and brothers let us call ourselves from henceforth.LANDGRAF: Oh, return, you valiant Singer!Have done with dissension and strife!TANNHÄUSER [deeply moved, embraces WOLFRAM and warmly]: To her! To her! Oh, lead me to her!Ha, how I recognize it again,the lovely world that I renounced!The heavens look down upon me,the meadows sparkle, richly decked!The spring, the springwith a thousand lovely soundshas entered into my soul, rejoicing!In sweet impetuous urgencymy heart cries aloud:To her, to her!Lead me to her!LANDGRAF and SINGERS: He whom we had lost is remaining!A miracle has brought him hither!Glory be to the sweet powerthat has charmed his arrogance away!Now may the high-born lady's earonce more harken to our lays!In joyous animated tonesthe song goes up from every breast!

During the preceding, the whole of the LANDGRAF's hunting party, including falconers etc., has gathered onstage. The hunters blow their horns. The whole valley is now filled by the ever-growing hunting party. The LANDGRAF and THE SINGERS turn to the hunters. The LANDGRAF sounds his horn and is answered by loud blasts and baying of dogs. The LANDGRAF and THE SINGERS mount horses that have been brought to them from the Wartburg. The curtain falls.

And while this recording -- from which we've already heard a couple of baritone Herbert Janssen's bits -- shows both its age and the conditions under which this not-quite-complete recording of Tannhäuser was made at the 1930 Bayreuth Festival (imagine how unimaginable such a project must have seemed at the time), I can't resist throwing it in. I think it remains of considerably more than historical value.

Finally, another performance from which we've heard some baritone bits -- in George London's case, as with Friedrich Schorr, an authentic Wagnerian Heldenbariton. (He has some pretty spiffy collaborators here too, notably Ramón Vinay in the title role and Rudolf Kempe conducting.)

I THOUGHT WE MIGHT START, OR CONTINUE, WITHA QUICK REMINDER OF THE TERRITORY WE'VE COVERED

In the Act II "Song Contest at the Wartburg," the first of the Singers -- as chosen by random drawing -- to present his explanation of "the essence of love" is Wolfram von Eschenbach, and among the Wolframs we heard, via a 1950 broadcast performance, was the 62-ish Heinrich Schlusnus. I thought we would listen to that performance again (once again including the "setup" material, though if you like you can skip directly to the second track for "Blick' ich umher") and then turn the clock back and hear Schlusnus, in just the contest song itself, as a "youngster" of 47.

LANDGRAF: Up, beloved Singers! Pluck the strings!The task is set! Compete for the prizeand receive in advance all our thanks.GUESTS: Hail! Hail! Hail to Thuringia's Prince!Hail to the protector of the gracious art! Hail! Hail![The FOUR PAGES come forward and collect from each Singer, in a golden bowl, a small roll of paper bearing his name; they present the bowl to ELISABETH, who takes out one of the papers and hands it back to the pages. These read the name, and advance ceremoniously into the middle of the hall.]FOUR PAGES: Wolfram von Eschenbach, begin![WOLFRAM rises. TANNHÄUSER leans on his harp, seemingly lost in dreams.]

THE SONG CONTEST

WOLFRAM: When I look around this noble circle,what a sublime spectacle makes my heart glow!So many heroes, valiant, upright and judicious,a forest of proud oaks, magnificent, fresh and green.And ladies I behold, charming and virtuous,a richly-perfumed garland of lovely blooms.My glance becomes enraptured at the sight,my song mute in face of such radiant loveliness.I lift my eyes up yonder to one starwhich stands fast in the firmament and dazzles me:my spirit draws comfort from that distance,my soul devoutly sinks in prayer.And behold! Before me a miraculous spring appears,which my spirit glimpses, filled with wonder!From it, it draws bliss, rich in grace,through which, ineffably, it revives my heart.And never would I sully this fount,nor taint the spring in wanton mood:I would practice myself in devotion, sacrificing,gladly shed my heart's last drop of blood.You noble ones may gather from these wordshow I do apprehend love's purest essence to be![He sits down.]KNIGHTS AND LADIES: 'Tis so! 'Tis so! Praised be your song!

In the scene-change music we heard before the click-through, we heard the pilgrims nearing the shrine to the Virgin. Now we're going to hear them off, and hear the Shepherd send them off, on their long journey to Rome (that's a long trip on foot!), and then we hear a new musical element reverberating around the valley: the horns that announce the arrival of the party of Landgraf Hermann.

This is, I hope you'll notice, something of a torture test for the orchestra's horn players. The 1962 Bayreuth contingent rises to the challenge rather spectacularly. (Back when the festival players, still drawn from the ranks of Germany's leading orchestras and formed something of an all-star ensemble.)

TRANSFORMATION NO. 3: The Shepherd offers the pilgrims a send-off on their journey; the Landgraf's party approaches

PILGRIMS [very distant]: At the sublime feast of clemency and grace,I will atone for my sins in humility;[a forest horn in the theater, distant]blessed is he who truly believes.

Forest horns in the distance. Out of the heights at left from a forest path appear the Landgraf and the Singers, one by one, dressed as hunters.

LANDGRAF [catches sight of TANNHÄUSER]: Who is that man yonder, sunk in fervent prayer?WALTHER VON DER VOGELWEIDE: A penitent surely.BITEROLF: By his garb a knight.WOLFRAM [rushes up to TANNHÄUSER and recognizes him]: It is he!WALTHER, HEINRICH DER SCHREIBER, BITEROLF, and REINMAR: Heinrich! Heinrich! Do I see right?